Blame it on the Jews

Hatefully-Fatefully
Drunk driver Mel Gibson
Anti-Semitic words
Flow when he drinks.

"Bigot, I'm not!" he cried,
Apologetically.
Mel doth protest too much,
or so, methinks.

Late last week, Mel Gibson was arrested for drunk driving (87 mph with a bottle of tequila in the car) in Malibu. Word eventually leaked out that he angrily asked the arresting officer whether he was a Jew and then went on to blame the Jews for all the wars in the world. On Saturday, he took some degree of responsibility, and yesterday, he issued an apology for his statements to the Jewish community.

The first apology, issued on on Saturday reads:

"I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested. I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry. I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse."

The second, issued on Tuesday reads:

"There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.

I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.

The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God's child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith."

Although he quibbled a bit in the first (blaming his alcoholism), he commendably took full responsibility for his actions in the second statement. As someone who loathes the standard, "I regret what happened and would like to apologize if anyone was offended" non-apology, I give Mel Gibson credit for taking responsibility for his actions and acknowledging the consequences. And because I do not doubt that he is honestly religious, I'm somewhat inclined to believe that his apologies are not merely PR statements.

But I am also quite disturbed by the content of what he said. He dismissed concerns that "The Passion of the Christ" contained anti-Semitic elements. His father has publicly stated that the holocaust was mostly fiction. In sum, there was already reason to be wary of his sentiments. And now we're supposed to believe that when inebriated and angry, Mel Gibson spouts what he does not believe. The more logical and obvious interpretation is that when his filters were disabled, Mel Gibson spewed what he truly believed. And unfortunately, what a lot of others believe.

I don't have anything particularly original or interesting to say about any of this. Basically, I hope that Mel Gibson's contrition is genuine and not just PR spin. And I hope that, consequently, he challenges others who think as he does to recognize and examine their own prejudices.